As many have noticed, we’re not covering the ongoing catastrophe in Israel and Palestine. Last week, we discussed the statements made by King Charles, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and that was basically one of the few lenses with which I am comfortable writing about the situation. I don’t want to add to the noise, nor do I want to spread misinformation, nor do I want to speak out of turn. That being said, I’ve been surprised to see just how many celebrities, brands, teams, businesses and groups have chimed in. Last week, I even wrote “Or better yet for celebrities, say nothing – there’s absolutely no reason why the world needs to know what Kylie Jenner thinks about Israel and Palestine.” And yet, celebrities kept commenting and kept issuing statements.
Gigi and Bella Hadid are two of the most famous people of Palestinian descent – their father, Mohamed Hadid, is Palestinian, born in Nazareth in 1948, the same year David Ben-Gurion established the state of Israel. Bella and Gigi have spoken for years about Palestinian rights. In the days following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens, Bella has remained silent on everything. On October 10, Gigi made what I thought was an extremely measured statement, which she posted on IG and turned off the comments (the right thing to do). She specifically says that none of her dreams for Palestinians include harming any Jewish person, and she states clearly that she has Jewish friends, and she does not believe that being for Palestinian rights equals antisemitism. Here’s her post:
As I said, measured and completely above-board. I’ve seen public statements made by Jewish people and Israeli citizens which go a lot further and more political than Gigi. But whoever is running the Israeli government’s social media accounts decided to brazenly attack Gigi for her statement. This is one of the most unhinged things I’ve ever seen from a government social media account.
“Have you been sleeping the past week? Or are you just fine turning a blind eye to Jewish babies being butchered in their homes? Your silence has… pic.twitter.com/tEELtcIbHK
— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 16, 2023
Again, this was from a government’s account. This is from the state of Israel’s Instagram account. Again, Gigi has been completely measured in all of her public statements. It’s bonkers.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.
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